[Lamotrigine in the therapy of resistant epilepsy].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of lamotrigine as single agent in patients with refractory epilepsy.

Materials And Methods: Forty-seven adult patients with refractory epilepsy, in the initial phase received carbamazepine (1208 +/- 82.9 mg/day) plus lamotrigine (561.7 +/- 76.8 mg/day); during the second phase they received lamotrigine alone (206.4 +/- 44.4 mg/day).

Results: Lamotrigine monotherapy significantly improved the number of seizures per week in comparison to lamotrigine combined with carbamazepine (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Lamotrigine as single agent is more effective than carbamazepine + lamotrigine in patients with refractory epilepsy.